Cover Story
- Nokia India can ill-afford to bask in the glory of being the biggest foreign-owned company in the country. Key to its lasting success is how it helps its parent make an ambitious transition into services.
- Nokia's history in services has been a roller-coaster ride with more lows than highs.
From the Editor
Why should a company that controls over 60 per cent of the market for a product look to diversify from that product? Unbottling magic
Arnaud Mirey, Moet Hennessy's Asia-Pacific Regional Brand Ambassador, on cognacs and cocktails. India's best-loved artist's collected correspondence finally arrives in the public domain.Back page with Mrinalini Sharma
She made such a splash that Bollywood demanded she move from Delhi to Mumbai. Now, Mrinalini is working with some of the biggest names in the business. Every issue, we ask a prominent business person about the books that made him/her the person he/she is today. This month: Pranab Datta, MD, Knight Frank India. MAR 23-APRIL 23: What's new and what's happening this month. A tiger sighting is a lucky thing but Corbett remains a peaceful getaway. Just a change in eating habits can change your mood and your lifestyle. You can't plan your summer holidays without taking into consideration the wealth of travel options abroad. We present you a complete package. The city's latest Mediterranean fine-diner is yet a work-in-progress. The much-talked-about Lap Garden does not disappoint. Mosate is the first mid-range Pan-Asian restaurant to open in Khar. Some of the leading musical lights of the past decade have come out with stellar new work. The Blue Mountains are the perfect antidote for tired lungs and aching feet even if you have just a weekend to spare. The mountains of Tehri Gharwal abound in myths, legends, stories and hospitality. Take a few steps back in time to rediscover Shimla, the queen of hills, and the sahibs' summer favourite. From designer tie-ups to limited edition launches, there's plenty of stuff generating a buzz this April.
Well said
"It is best to free the prices. The saved money can then be given directly to the poor through anti-poverty initiatives"Surpassing China in manufacturing growth
India has been one of the best performing manufacturing economies in the last decade. The prolonged downturn in the US has started to take its toll on our superheroes as well. India's and the world's most talked-about CEOs in February."We have over 235 million active users"
Mark Pincus, CEO, Zynga Game Network, the company that has devised the immensely popular online games, FarmVille and Mafia Wars, was in India recently to open a game development unit in Bangalore.BT-TAM most watched ads in February 2010
Five celebrity ads—well, make that six, if you include child artiste Darsheel Safary of Taare Zameen Par fame—feature in the BT-TAM list for February. The bids for the two new Indian Premier League (IPL) teams may have come a cropper in the first round, but it wouldn't unduly worry Lalit Modi. A clutch of women is successfully storming male bastions at the workplace. If you're self-employed, there is considerable overlap between your workplace and home.Evolved marketing for an evolved consumer
A demanding consumer will ensure that advertising no longer remains discreet and polite. Overt comparisons with rival brands may well become the norm. Indian aviation is finally showing sure signs of recovery. The India Today Conclave saw global achievers debate the opportunities and the challenges ahead in the new decade.India Inc.'s tryst with Twitter
A study by Iffort (a web strategy and digital marketing company) of 66 brands from nine different industry verticals reveals that there are several companies which are using Twitter for brandbuilding and marketing.LSD postcards and dead actresses
A look at how Tinseltown is boosting box-office collections.We can't be afraid of the online medium, we have to embrace it
Cathleen P. Black, President, Hearst Magazines, (which includes such brands as Cosmopolitan, Harper's Bazaar, Marie Claire and Esquire) was in the country recently. The scores of malls dotting the urban Indian landscape demonstrate their growing mass appeal. In the last five years alone, the number of malls in India has more than doubled to about 600. Straddling worlds
"I will try to run the North Pole Marathon in 2011," says Ajay Khandelwal, CEO, Jubilant Energy. He has run the London Marathon and a few half-marathons. A. Ananthanarayanan had come down from Bangkok to Chennai on work in December 2004 when the killer tsunami battered India's east coast and Southeast Asia. More young executives In 1997, two years after graduating in telecom engineering, Amit Dhingra moved to Europe with Siemens Telecom (which later merged with Nokia Networks to form his current employer). At a time when family soaps ruled, Ashvini Yardi changed the game at Zee by coming up with a serial —Saat Phere- Saloni Ka Safar. Photos of young executives Don't waste time looking for the BTech or MBA stamps in Brotin Banerjee's CV. His career in the media industry began not by choice, but by chance. A summer job, to be precise, at Prime Sports in 1996. Deepak Dhar, Managing Director of Endemol India, says: "That summer hasn't gotten over yet for me." He joined Endemol in 2005 as creative director. Nine years ago, Deepak Munganahalli was sent to head the Indian operations of offshore drilling major Transocean with a clear brief: Take a hard look at the business and shut it if needed. Working at JP Morgan's private equity (PE) fund business at Singapore was just his cup of tea, Gaurav Mathur realised after switching from 80-90-hour weeks as an investment banking analyst at Deutsche Bank. Unconventional is an understatement for Gautam Bhandari. Inside his fifth-floor office in Hyderabad's HiTec City, Hari Kumar is busy trying a putt. He started his career selling engineering equipment, excavators and cranes. Today, Karthik Sarma is the Chief People Officer of WNS—a talent scout and organisational catalyst. Soaring growth sums up Kenneth Andrade's rise from running a Rs 30-crore equity portfolio in 2002 to managing Rs 3,000 crore of equity funds and overseeing an equity and bond corpus of Rs 25,000 crore today. Hop, step and jump jobs, and a hot-shot can expect to become a CEO in his 30s. But Mahendra Jain did it the hard way: Within the same firm. It was not her ability, not her gender, not her qualification, but getting past her youth that has been a challenge for Pooja Gupta.Crunching numbers-and chocolate
Rahul Murdeshwar's toughest moment was in 2008, when he and a colleague had to set up Hershey's venture with Godrej in India. Ask Rizwan Soomar about the number of days he travels in a year, and there's an uneasy pause. As head of securities law and private equity practice at law firm JSA and a member of the Takeover Regulation Advisory Committee of the Securities & Exchange Board of India (SEBI) it is natural for Somasekhar Sundaresan to be hard-pressed for time. Behind Sundar Raman's nonchalant demeanour lurks a tough negotiator who knows every blade of grass of his pitch. With a Bachelor's in political science and Master's in social work, Shubha Arora could have joined the media or the social sector. At a time when the pillars of global investment banking had started to shake, Sidharth Punshi had two choices—relocate to Goldman Sachs India or take the top job at Jefferies India to set up its India operations. Vaishali Kasture's CV bristles with big names and key postings —Citibank, then stints with HP (formerly EDS) business MphasiS and in Japan and Hong Kong. Pics of young executives For Vivek Pandit, life is a constant balancing act.India's hottest young executives
Business Today's sixth listing of the young trailblazers who are setting the benchmarks for success in India Inc. See them in Pictures Yesteryear's HYEs may not be so young any more but they're even hotter now. More and more businesses today are being headed by professional CEOs in their 30s. What do they bring to the table that is making them the darlings of promoters and boards? See pics People, places and products
Here's a look at the people, places and products doing the rounds these days. Do your homework well. One bad move can mess up your entire career. Will the fizz last?
A clutch of third-party manufacturers made it big in the downturn, as organised retail fought for better margins and customers looked for bargains. What next?"I have brought in accountability"
To achieve his target of building 20 km of national highways per day, Highways Minister Kamal Nath seems to have it all figured out—he's made remarkable progress in untangling the vexatious issue of land acquisition, he's overhauling the way the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) works, and he's talking about introducing new technologies to speed up the pace, and improve the quality, of highway development. Nearly a third of India's 84,000 dollar millionaires live outside the big cities, but that isn't stopping them from acquiring the best things money can buy—yachts, luxury cars, bespoke suits and limited-edition watches. ...yes, that's a teaser heading on the latest Idea and Aircel ads. As both brands latch on to environmental hot topics, BT asked two experts to cast their vote.The Budget surprises you missed
What's the value of all the cars the government owns? Why has the Centre given up on downsizing? Read about these factoids and more. That's the milestone Highways Minister Kamal Nath wants to cross every year for the next five years. That works out to a daily average of 20 km, more than double what the country has ever achieved. Is the minister serious?
Realising GST's potential
Uniformity in application of tax on all goods and services is most important.
Can Chennai's Mass Rapid Transit System revive itself?
Chennai's MRTS carries just about 10 per cent of the commuters it was meant to, making it a case study in bad urban infrastructure planning. What can revive it? Bogged down by demat?
Getting share certificates dematerialised can sometimes become an exasperating journey. BT alerts you about the key hurdles along the way. Demystifying the Budget
Making sense of the Budget (Welcome to UPA's New Economic Order, March 21) reminds me of the story of the three blind men strugglingto describe the elephant from touching different parts of its anatomy. Leaderspeak: Harsh Manglik
Here are excerpts of a small Q&A with Harsh Manglik, Chairman & Geography MD, Accenture India. Generation G
What will it take for India, currently the 11th largest economy in the world, to become an advanced economy in one generation? This well-produced ADB study has answers that will be of interest and use to businessmen doing long-term planning. 
